The Little Black Dress is pretty much what the name implies: a simple, (usually) short black dress, with little to no trimming or decoration. Expect very few frills, ruffles, or sequins. It's also most often sleeveless, strapless, has spaghetti straps, cap sleeves, or a halter-style top. The effect is to make an impression of grand, yet simple style, that could fit the fashion in any decade since the early 20th century.

This dress was created during The Roaring '20s, when fashion was in a big upheaval compared with the decades before. Coco Chanel came up with a dress that would work in any evening or formal occasion, and blend in through any decade since. An anecdote on where did Chanel found inspiration on the dress is that while she looking at her maid, she observed upon the simplicity of the uniform and tweaked it by removing the apron and the lace trimmings, leaving only the black part of the dress.

This versatility and ability to work with any shot made the dress immensely popular with Hollywood costume designers, which spread the dress's popularity around the world.

Despite how it seems, this isn't really the opposite of a Pimped-Out Dress (and may rarely even overlap with Happy Holidays Dress). It's just the pimping out is rare, to a lesser degree, and still done in a way that makes the dress last.

But not every style of this dress is guaranteed to last. Many such dresses from (stereotypically from The '80s) are more likely to be an Outdated Outfit.

Also, while it's true that the first thing that comes in mind for the dress is the one worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (as the page image above), doNOT mention it as a Chanel creation made in 1926, like most fashion articles do. Though the concept of the Little Black Dress is Chanel's, the specific one Hepburn wore was created by Hubert de Givenchy in 1961.

Examples:

Blue/Green (the girl) from Pokémon Adventures wore one, combined with white gloves, until the FireRed and LeafGreen arcs, when she was given a new outfit to match her game counterpart. She was based on an unused female protagonist for Pokémon Red and Blue, who ended up being revamped for the remake games. Blue is a bit flirty but is a toned down variant due to her young age.

Akari from 3-gatsu no Lion wears black dresses with full-lengthed skirt as part of her "uniform" while working at Mikako's Ginza bar.

In the manga of Soul Eater, BJ comes to Death City to find the spy or mole (rather than the anime version, where he came to help build a Magic Tool). One of the people he needs to investigate is Marie Mjolnir, his Christmas Cake ex-girlfriend. She shows up to the interrogation in a slinky Little Black Dress, which has about the desired effect.

The pro wrestling story, A Ring Of Their Own has a scene where Michelle McCool dons one and tries to seduce John Bradshaw Layfield in an effort to find out who her opponent will be in the opening round of the FWF's title tournament to crown their first champion. JBL doesn't bite.

Tsuruya in Kyon: Big Damn Hero has one, and she wears it to a movie. With Kyon, his sister and Miyoko.

Audrey Hepburn's little black dress in Sabrina. It was actually designed by Hubert de Givenchy, but in a power grab, Paramount costume designer Edith Head took credit for all of the clothes worn in the film.

Subverted in The Duff. Bianca dressed in one to the party with intention to get the guy but exposed her to the concept of "DUFF" and get pissed off instead, and she (and her friends) fired up the sewing machine to mix and match the LBD with her black/red plaid T-shirt and created the dress she really shine in.

Dear Diary: Annie uses this exact phrase when seeing a black dress in a fashion store. At the end when her husband gets a look at it, it helps revive their stagnant sex life.

Literature

There's an actual publishing company, specialising in Chick Lit, called Little Black Dress Books. Including this trope in some form is probably a contractual obligation.

Used as a metaphor in Al Franken's The Truth (with jokes). Al quotes a blogger who referred to the 9/11 attacks as "Bush'sLittle Black Dress" — just as the dress can be slipped on for any social occasion, the 9/11 attacks could be used as the justification for any policy he wanted to pursue.

Nicci of the Sword of Truth wears one of these all the time. It's symbolic of her unfeelingness and becomes associated with her being "Death's Mistress". In fact, when she's worried she might be recognized when she doesn't want to be, she wears a red dress and relies on her... assets to distract.

In the premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy is shown holding up dresses in front of her to decide what to wear to the Bronze. Her comment on the black dress is "Hi, I'm an enormous slut!" Sure enough Buffy wears a little black dress while doing her notorious Mating Dance with Xander the following year.

Sarah Walker on Chuck wore more than her fair share both in the show, on the DVD covers, and in promotional material. Being played by Yvonne Strahovski, she wore them quite well.

Almost all the main female characters on Mad Men have worn a black dress at least one time during the series.

Glee often features versions of the LBD, the best example during the "Rumour Has it/Someone Like You" mashup in Season 3.

Used practically in the first episode of The Lone Gunmen. The heroes run into a bearded fellow in a suit while he's committing a crime. Moments later, before leaving the scene of crime, the guy strips off "his" suit, beard, and wig, to reveal the show's new female antagonist in a LBD - which fit well under her disguise and didn't stand out in public.

Rayna Von Tosh (first graduate of the SHIMMER academy seen in WSU, Chikara and surrounding promotions) has worn a little black dress with red decorations, presumably to go with her pinup girl gimmick.

Black Rose has wrestled in a little black dress on a few occasions. Besides fashion or fan service, it also doesn't stain much when her(or preferably, someone else's) blood gets on it. (the same reason Lady Demonique, Disiple, Monster Pain, ect wear black)

Theater

The title character of Sweet Charity wears one of these. Exactly how long she wears it depends on the production, but in the original production she had it on for the whole show.

Toys

The first collection of the Barbie Basics was focused entirely on this, all the twelve dolls wearing some interpretation of the little black dress, with fashion packs consisting only on accesories, in order to adapt the dresses to different situations.

An item in Fallout: New Vegas is pre-war singer Vera Keyes's black dress. A female Courier can wear it (and it gives very slight armour, too). Male Couriers end up with it transforming into a tuxedo. Somehow.

The Boss can get one in Saints Row 2. Appropriate for a tasteful evening cruising downtown..in a sewage truck and firing a filth cannon.

In El Goonish Shive, during the Grace's Birthday arc, Nanase gives Ellen a little black dress to wear. It's the first time Ellen, an Opposite-Sex Clone of Elliot, has ever worn anything remotely feminine, and she's quite embarrassed by the ordeal.

Most of the female cast of Ménage ŕ 3 are good-looking, and several of them carry off LBDs with aplomb at times:

Max from Batman Beyond sports one while posing as a date for Terry during a stakeout. It's fetching enough that he even comments on it.

Terry: (after a long pan up of her in the dress) Never seen you in a dress before. (grins) You look good.

In one episode of Justice League, in order to get acquainted with society, Wonder Woman decides to attend a formal ball, wearing a new, nice, black dress.

Frankie from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends wore the LBD in three episodes for separate occasions: a dinner date ("Frankie My Dear"), a red-carpet movie premiere alongside Mac ("Ticket to Rod", although neither of them actually end up going) and a fund-raising party ("Fools and Regulations").

Kim Possible wore one of these in "Emotion Sickness", to show that she's feeling a bit saucy towards Ron. It has since become a cornerstone in the show's fandom, eventually earning the Fan Nickname "The LBD".

As of the website's first update in over a year and a half, Ruby Gloom's heavily-expanded wardrobe (which originally consisted of a medium-sized black dress, which actually seems to have been pushed out of the picture entirely) includes such a dress.

Also worn by Drew Saturday in The Secret Saturdays episode "Guess Who's Going To Be Dinner" when she and Doc go on an anniversary date.

In the episode of The Simpsons, "Lard of the Dance", Lisa dons one to get a date for the dance.

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